Finivest Loses Lodo Mondadori Appeal

De Benedetti: “Gravity of larceny established”. Berlusconi to pay €494 million to CIR. Daughter Marina counters: “We do not owe CIR a single euro”

Finivest Loses Lodo Mondadori Appeal

De Benedetti: “Gravity of larceny established”. Berlusconi to pay €494 million to CIR. Daughter Marina counters: “We do not owe CIR a single euro”

The Court of Cassation has turned down Fininvest's appeal against compensation due to Carlo De Benedetti's CIR company in the Lodo Mondadori case. The verdict stands although the figure has been trimmed by roughly €23 million with respect to the magistrates' award of €564.2 million. A note issued by CIR later put the actual figure at €494 million. The supreme court's decision is the last battle in the “War of Segrate” fought over the Milan-based Mondadori publishing house. Mr De Benedetti expressed his satisfaction: “After more than twenty years, the gravity has been established of the larceny suffered by CIR as a consequence of the proven bribery of a magistrate by Berlusconi's Fininvest, long before he took an active part in politics”.

MARINA “NOT A SINGLE EURO” - “CIR has suffered no harm, as Carlo De Benedetti well knows despite his continued gibbering about 'larceny'. We do not owe CIR a single euro”. Fininvest chair Marina Berlusconi released the statement after the Court of Cassation's decision on the Lodo Mondadori was published.

VERDICT - The 185-page operative part of the supreme court ruling notes: “This Court upholds the thirteenth ground for the [Fininvest - Ed.] appeal and rejects the remaining grounds. As a result of the thirteenth ground being upheld, the Court sets aside the component of the appeal sentence containing the equitable adjustment of loss, estimated at 15% of pecuniary damages already liquidated. The rest of the contested verdict is confirmed”.

REDUCTION - Some observers reckon that the reduction in the amount to be paid to CIR by Fininvest could be in excess of €70 million. The Court of Cassation's ruling reduces by 15% pecuniary damages, assessed by the appeal court at €564.2 million, of which about €180 million referred to actual damages and the rest mainly to interest. The Court of Cassation's €24 million reduction is calculated on the original €180 million, lawyers point out. Once the figure has been reduced, interest has to be recalculated, bringing the total reduction to more than €70 million. Since Fininvest paid CIR €564.2 million in July 2011, Carlo De Benedetti's holding company will now have to repay the amount of the reduction to Silvio Berlusconi's flagship.

CIR SHARES SPIKE - CIR leapt ahead on the stock exchange when news of the supreme court ruling was announced. By 3.20 pm, shares were up by 5.24%. Among Berlusconi group shares, Mondadori fell by 1.04% to €1.05. At 3.20 pm, Mediaset had cancelled out the day's meagre gains and ended -0.59% weaker on €3.38.

BACK STORY - In 1995, Milan prosecutors discovered that when the first civil section was considering its verdict, one of the presiding magistrates, Vittorio Metta, had received more than a billion lire from Cesare Previti, a Finivest group lawyer and close friend of Silvio Berlusconi. The money, channelled through a current account traceable to the Berlusconi-controlled offshore All Iberian company, was was alleged to have been used by Metta to buy an apartment. Subsequently, he also began to collaborate with Mr Previti's law firm. In 2007, the Court of Cassation sentenced Mr Previti and two other Fininvest lawyers to eighteen months' imprisonment for judicial corruption, and Vittorio Metta to thirty-two months. The case against Silvio Berlusconi was time-barred in 2001 because his involvement had been proved up till 1991 while the other defendants were still involved in 1992.

REACTIONS - The supreme court decision sparked immediate reactions. According to People of Freedom (PDL) senator Sandro Bondi, it “confirms that no one in Italy can feel safe any more”. The Democratic Party (PD) replied that “verdicts should be respected”.